Jump to content
SAU Community

Car Runs Great At 20* Compared To 15* Timing

240dreams
 Share

Recommended Posts

240dreams Apprentice

240dreams

Posted
Posted

Car is a 89 S13 engine is a Series 1 RB25DET.

For some odd reason my car runs like crap on stock timing. There's just no power up top and it feels really rough. It makes lots of noise but doesn't really go anywhere. But when I set timing closer to 20* BTDC, it feels much better. It has more power and it comes on a lot smoother up top and down low. I know for a 5spd RB25 stock timing is 15* and for an auto stock timing is 20*. But my engine is a 5spd manual. I'm really stumped with this and I don't want to ruin my motor by running incorrect timing. Has anyone had an issue like his before? Any help is appreciated.

240dreams Apprentice

240dreams

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Car is a 89 S13 engine is a Series 1 RB25DET.

For some odd reason my car runs like crap on stock timing. There's just no power up top and it feels really rough. It makes lots of noise but doesn't really go anywhere. But when I set timing closer to 20* BTDC, it feels much better. It has more power and it comes on a lot smoother up top and down low. I know for a 5spd RB25 stock timing is 15* and for an auto stock timing is 20*. But my engine is a 5spd manual. I'm really stumped with this and I don't want to ruin my motor by running incorrect timing. Has anyone had an issue like his before? Any help is appreciated.

Is that +6 degrees over stock timing (21* BTDC). How modded is your engine?

mad082 Grand Master

mad082

Posted
Posted

how are you checking your timing? is it possible that you have infact been moving the timing the other way and dropping it to 10*btdc?

also what fuel do you run? if it is crap fuel then that may be the cause. set it back to 15* and put some good octane boost in and drive it round for a bit and see if that makes it run any better.

240dreams Apprentice

240dreams

Posted
  • Author
Posted

I'm checking timing with a Snap On timing gun using FSM procedures.

When I was setting timing to 15*, I aimed for the 4th mark from the left on the crank pulley.

For example: l l l l <---This one

0* 5* 10* 15*

I'm running 93 octane fuel (highest grade available here). I'll try octane booster to see if that makes a difference or not at 15* BTDC.

I just went back out for a quick drive. I don't really want to drive too much b/c of my lack of fans. But I noticed that at 15*,17*, and 20* my car felt slow. It honestly felt more sluggish than a stock KA24DE. So in desperation, I rotated the CAS completely counter clockwise (advanced) and went for another drive. It felt great - like a 6 cylinder turbo should. Albeit it wasn't too smooth due to some ignition misfires but it actually felt fast and it knocked my head into the seat. None of this occured at close to stock timing. I'll have to wait to get some fans on before I got out for joy rides again. I don't think I've been doing my engine any good running w/o fans.

Sydneykid Grand Master

Sydneykid

Posted
Posted

One of the things I notice with guys new to RB’s is they tend to point the timing light vertically, straight down at the timing mark on the cam cover. This is wrong, the timing light needs to be 25-30 degrees off vertical, towards the airfilter, (the RHS looking at the engine). If you point the timing light vertically you see about 5 to 8 degrees advanced from where the timing really is. Move the light (and your head) across to the right and you get a better indicator of the real timing.

:) cheers :)

240dreams Apprentice

240dreams

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)

I'm new to RB's but I'm not new to Nissans and timing them in general. Also, I'm a techinician for Honda.

I'm definitely pointing the gun correctly. I also learned that it's easiet from the right hand side. The timing indicator is also easier to see from that angle.

Edited by 240dreams

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • MBS206
      NC MX5

      By MBS206 · Posted

      Nah, they'll do it without a receipt, tell em roughly when it was, that it was cash, youll likely only get store credit, but that gets you some dollars towards the newer better shovel, or other item you need/want later.   Still take it back and have a crack at returning it.
    • GTSBoy
      Mistakes were made, my R34 Story

      By GTSBoy · Posted

      Nah. Was just wondering if you were having a small stroke or if there was some slur/gaf/inside joke that I wasn't aware of.
    • MBS206
      Mistakes were made, my R34 Story

      By MBS206 · Posted

      That was a fark up, it's Salamanca Place I was thinking of. And now I'm curious as to what potential slur/gaf I have caused with Salamander Road, ha ha!
    • Kinkstaah
      Mistakes were made, my R34 Story

      By Kinkstaah · Posted

      Actually everyone on the roads was really well behaved. The only person that did any minor tailgating was a local hoon in a Turbo Focus. Unfortunately we weren't going the same way so there was no grand initial D touge battle. Lots of people pulled over and let me through. The amount of "Hey man nice car, omg skyline, nice 34 man woo" was suprising. Like really suprising. Like almost annoying. My partner was obviously surprised, she'd never seen anyone in the real world point out the car/like the car/want to chat about the car before, so to have like 3 people per day mention it was notable, I could finally say SEE? SOMEONE THINKS THEY'RE COOL. Everyone was also pretty suprised about the weather. Every day was dry and about ~13-14C. Mount Wellington had a sign that said they close the gates at 9pm and I was heading up there at about ~7:30. It was VERY apparent that conditions were getting significantly worse by the minute on the way up and down. The road on the mountain was terrible though, it's no driving road. I have various suspension related questions now. Luckily it was only about 20 minutes from where we were staying to the top of the mountain as said Google maps. We only had the 2 nights in Hobart. We went to the Farm Gate Market though which was really good - And went down to the Hastings Thermal springs/caves down there during the day. I'd definitely be up for going back again, so luckily there's a few more sights yet to see. Didn't get to do the west coast/queenstown/cradle mountain so this was supposed to be a 'scouting' trip anyway of sorts if I were to one day do/take part in/organize a more car-focused trip. As for the boat, it wasn't bad. Well it was bad, but not in the way you're thinking. We did the night trip which leaves at 6:45 (though you have to be there ~2 hours earlier) and arrives the next morning at about 6am. There is nothing to do on the ship. If you plan accordingly and bring a book/tablet/show to watch/charger you can just chill out, take some Travacalm and just sleep through it. The food there is an extremely basic buffet that costs $32 a plate, or $14 for a $3 pizza. The way back we had a travel kettle and a few different types of cup noodles and made our own tea/coffee in the room. This was a far superior way to do it. At the very least book one of the rooms with beds. I guess as we were in the off season we didn't have room mates. You get an option for rooms with 4 beds (2x bunks) or a room with just the two bottom beds. There's also some option for a deluxe queen bed but it's much pricer. We've been on sleeper trains in Asia before so we figured this is similar (and it was)
    • GTSBoy
      Mistakes were made, my R34 Story

      By GTSBoy · Posted

      Was that deliberate?
×
×
  • Create New...